Gunman Shoots at White House From Sidewalk

By ERIC SCHMITT,

Published: October 30, 1994

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29—
A 26-year-old Colorado man carrying a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle sprayed the north face of the White House with a score or more of bullets today, piercing both a window and the mansion's remaining aura of invincibility, but injuring no one.

It was the second uncontested attack on the executive mansion in less than six weeks, and it immediately raised anew questions about the safety of a President living not just in the midst of a major city, but barely 50 yards from its six-lane main street.

President Clinton, back just this morning from a four-day trip to the Middle East, was watching a football game in the building's living quarters on the second floor at the time of the attack. Officials said he had heard the crack of gunfire, but they insisted he was never in danger -- all the windows in the central mansion are made of bullet-proof glass. Mr. Clinton's wife, Hillary, was in California, and his daughter, Chelsea, was away.

Moments after the shooting, officials said, at least two passers-by wrestled Francisco Martin Duran to the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk, and two uniformed Secret Service agents leaped over the fence surrounding the White House grounds and subdued him.

Richard Griffin, an assistant director of the Secret Service, said the suspect had fired 20 to 30 shots from the weapon, a semi-automatic rifle called an SKS, before being subdued.

In May, President Clinton banned imports of the rifle.

The motive for the attack was not clear, said Mr. Griffin, who added that Mr. Duran apparently had acted alone. Mr. Griffin said the attack was not being viewed as an attempted assassination.

The police in El Paso County, Colo., where Mr. Duran lived in the Colorado Springs suburb of Security, said Mr. Duran's wife had reported him missing on Oct. 1, a day after he left his home telling her that he was going to get equipment for target practice.

Late today, Secret Service officers pored over a Chevrolet pickup truck with Colorado plates that was parked near the White House and bore bumper stickers denouncing Attorney General Janet Reno and opposing gun control.

The Secret Service keeps records on people it regards as potential threats to the President, but the agency has no file on Mr. Duran, Mr. Griffin said. He also said a broader check into Mr. Duran's background was under way.

Mr. Duran, variously identified as an upholsterer and a resort hotel worker, had not been charged with a crime by this evening.

Tonight, appearing at the annual dinner of the National Italian-American Federation, Mr. Clinton briefly made light of the incident.

After his trip to a Middle East plagued by terrorists, he said, "it's great to be back in the safety and security of the White House." The President said the Secret Service "did their usual magnificent job," rushing into the residence and interrupting a football game on television in which "the shots were intermittent with the cheers" from the crowd at the game.

But he quickly turned serious. He praised the courage of those who had subdued Mr. Duran, saying the gunman was captured "because ordinary citizens who were standing there did their duty."

And he said the incident proved the wisdom of recently passed legislation controlling the sale of semi-automatic weapons similar to the one used today. "If we ever needed an example of why Congress did the right thing in passing a crime bill including a ban on assault weapons," he said, "this was it."

Possession of the rifle, however, was not banned by the crime bill, although the bill made it illegal to sell such a rifle that had been altered so that its capacity was more than 10 bullets.

Mr. Clinton made the remarks at the Washington Hilton hotel, where another gunman shot and seriously wounded President Ronald Reagan more than 13 years ago.

The White House's north facade -- the side seen in the background of countless reports on the evening network news programs -- seemed to suffer from a pox after the shooting. Reporters saw four or five bullet holes in the West Wing wall where the press corps works, and a puncture in one of the press room's windows.

President Clinton's chief of staff, Leon E. Panetta, was working in his West Wing office at the time. He said at least three bullets had struck the executive mansion, the large center structure that contains the President's residence and ceremonial rooms; the bullet strikes included one near the north main door -- under the landmark portico -- and another on the second floor.

Mr. Duran apparently had lingered for close to an hour on the sidewalk outside the White House before the shooting started. The whole episode unfolded without warning and in a matter of seconds on a brilliant fall Saturday when the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue was alive with tourists.

Those tourists and several homeless people who camp in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, said a man wearing a dark trench coat with epaulets stopped at about 3 P.M. on the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk outside the black fence around the White House. Then he whirled around, whipped a rifle from under his coat and opened fire.

David Jackson, 24, a New York City resident who has been camping in the park with his two brothers since Christmas, said he had heard a burst of 15 to 20 shots.

"He was spraying fire at the White House," Mr. Jackson said. "He started moving toward Treasury while still spraying fire at the White House. He turned toward the crowd on the sidewalk."

After the initial burst of shots, witnesses said, Mr. Duran began walking east toward the Treasury Department building next door to the White House, stopping once or twice to fire short barrages at the White House.

William Pugh, 61, another park resident, said Mr. Duran had fired a burst at the White House, then aimed at a guardhouse next to the West Wing driveway entrance. "Then he ran out of ammunition," Mr. Pugh said, "and tried to reload."

He did not succeed. Instead, a man clad in a blue windbreaker, and identified as Ken Davis of Ohio, made "a graceful, acrobatic leap" and grabbed him from behind, said Ellen Thomas, who has lived in the park since 1987. A second man grabbed his legs. A third, 47-year-old Robert E. Haines, who was at the scene with his 16-month-old son in a stroller, said he helped another bystander tackle the gunman. Another witness said Mr. Haines seized the gun.

Only three people were in the White House press room, which bore the brunt of the attack. One, Wayne C. Lowman, narrowly escaped injury.

Mr. Lowman, a 28-year-old lighting technician for NBC News, said that he had heard a sound like firecrackers, approached the window and was struck by a piece of glass as a bullet hit a pane and partly shattered it. He dropped to the floor.

Secret Service agents had observed the gunman just before he fired, a senior law-enforcement official said, but decided to hold their fire to avoid hitting bystanders.

The official also said that under standard procedures a review would be made to determine whether the Secret Service emergency team had responded adequately.

Today's shooting comes just six weeks after a 38-year-old truck driver penetrated the security cordon around the White House and crashed a small Cessna airplane into the White House's South Lawn.

That incident, on Sept. 12, stirred a vigorous debate about whether White House security was lax. Secret Service officials acknowledged that if a man with limited flying skills could come close to hitting the President's bedroom without encountering resistance, a trained assassin could inflict even greater damage.

And they have acknowledged that there was little that could be done to counter an assault on the building. Their strategy would instead be defensive: to move the First Family and others to a safe place within the compound, the basement, for instance, rather than risk their lives or the lives of those outside by firing back.

Photos: A man identified as Francisco Martin Duran was taken into custody after he fired a semi-automatic rifle into the White House grounds. (CNN) (pg. 1); Tape across a window in the briefing room that was damaged by a bullet fired at White House yesterday. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times); A barrage of gunfire directed at the White House yesterday left a window in the West Wing with a bullet hole. There were no injuries. (CNN) (pg. 30) Diagram of the White House shows the relative locations of the shooting and abduction. (pg. 1) Map shows where shots were fired and where plane crashed. (pg. 30)